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US Envoy on Mideast Tour to Coordinate Efforts on Iran

US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
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US Envoy on Mideast Tour to Coordinate Efforts on Iran

US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)
US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley (AP)

US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain Nov. 11-20 to coordinate efforts ahead of fresh talks about reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Malley will lead a joint team among a number of US federal agencies, 9 days before the “5 + 1 group" of the permanent members of the Security Council meet in Vienna to get Washington and Tehran to resume compliance with the nuclear deal, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from US, EU and UN sanctions.

A statement released by the US State Department on Thursday, said Malley “will coordinate our approaches on a broad range of concerns with Iran, including its destabilizing activities in the region and the upcoming seventh round of talks on a mutual return to full compliance with the (deal)," referring to the Nov. 29 resumption of indirect US-Iran talks.

Malley’s trip will be his first to Israel as a member of the Biden administration. He has met several times with Israeli officials in Washington. He is one of the original architects of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but has rarely appeared face-to-face with Israeli officials on this issue, given Israel's strong opposition to the deal.

Malley last spoke publicly on efforts to revive the JCPOA last month when he told reporters that Iran’s explanations for staying away from nuclear talks in Vienna are “running out.”

Days after, Iran announced readiness to resume negotiations on Nov. 29, after a five-months hiatus due to the elections that brought hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to power.

US President Joe Biden said he was ready to resume the nuclear agreement talks, under which Iran agreed to strict limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for comprehensive sanctions relief.

Iran wants a lifting of the US sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump after withdrawing from the deal in 2018.

The Biden administration says it will only negotiate actions taken by Trump on the nuclear program, not the steps imposed on other concerns such as human rights.

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Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Party Leaves Government over Conscription Bill

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers from the government attends a session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)

One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service.

Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago.

That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament.

It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.

Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government."

Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022.

A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.

Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill.

Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.

The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defense ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.

Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.

The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.